Fanatics and Fanatics Collectibles announced on Friday an exclusive, multi-year deal with Duke basketball standout Cooper Flagg, who is widely expected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
The deal includes both memorabilia and trading cards, allowing for Flagg autographs and game-used items to be included in his cards produced by Fanatics/Topps. Flagg has already been featured in print-to-order Topps Now cards, but the first full product release to include him will be 2025 Bowman University Chrome Basketball. A release date for that set has yet to be announced.
Topps produced a “Welcome to the Family” video to mark the deal, narrated by Duke legend Grant Hill and featuring cards of other hobby luminaries and Fanatics exclusive athletes, like Victor Wembanyama, Paul Skenes, Aaron Judge and C.J. Stroud. It ends with the reveal of Flagg’s 1st Bowman card — a pre-rookie card that is widely considered one of a given player’s most coveted among collectors.
The 6-foot-9, 18-year-old Flagg set the ACC freshman scoring record by posting 42 points against Notre Dame on Saturday. He’s carved out his place as a generational prospect with unique defensive prowess, whether sitting on his opponent’s hip, stalking the passing lanes or blocking shots with his length timing. He can guard all five positions. This season, he has battled fellow freshman Dylan Harper of Rutgers for the No. 1 spot in mock drafts, with virtually all draftniks placing the pair head and shoulders above the rest of the field.
“Flagg is one of the best two-way players I’ve seen at the high school level in a long time,” wrote The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie in his 2025 NBA mock draft. “Largely, that’s based on his processing ability. For a teenager, he thinks the game faster than everyone else. … Flagg is the ultimate winner and competitor, and the exact kind of player I’d want to join my organization.”
He has not disappointed thus far at Duke. Besides his scoring record, Flagg has proved a capable playmaker with seven games of at least five assists. His usage rate of 31 percent is second among freshman and unique for a player with his volume of points and rebounds per game. Among the handful of others who have done it this century are Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony.
Flagg spoke to The Athletic at Fanatics Fest New York last summer, during a special session where children engaged in a pack battle (a game where participants see who can hit the best card in their pack, with the winner claiming all the cards from both packs) with athletes and celebrities who played on behalf of kids assigned to each of them.
Given his age, Flagg mixed with the children as both a peer and an idol. He opened packs of 2006-07 Topps NBA cards, which were released the year Flagg was born.
The event came soon after Flagg gained rave reviews for his performance against the USA men’s basketball team ahead of the 2024 Olympics. When Flagg sat at the table, Chris Costa, co-founder of Boston area hobby shop chain CardVault, said, “Cooper took it to the Olympic basketball team…. So, he might run you off the table today.”
No mercy on the court from @Cooper_Flagg at #FanaticsFest! 😅 pic.twitter.com/8ko3xeq7fD
— NBA Future Starts Now (@nbafuturenow) August 19, 2024
Once Flagg finished ripping packs (the card that drew the most excitement from the kids once freed from its pack wasn’t from the older basketball product, but the latest baseball one: an Elly De La Cruz rookie Topps Chrome gold refractor — a card that has sold for hundreds of dollars on eBay), he talked about the new deal, his own collection and following Tom Brady’s lead.
Who was your basketball idol growing up in New England?
Larry Bird. My parents, my grandparents were huge fans. That was the team they watched, the ’85, ’86 Celtics. I watched DVDs of entire games. I love how hard he played and that he was a real gritty player. That inspires me. Also just how versatile he was on both ends of the court.
GO DEEPER
Cooper Flagg and the small New England town that raised basketball’s brightest young star
Do you collect Larry Bird cards?
Yeah, I do. I have a couple with me (right now). I don’t have his rookie card (1980 Topps in a three-panel that’s also Magic Johnson’s rookie card). I’m going to get that, though. It’s on my list. I might trade for one today.
What modern players do you have cards of?
A lot of the guys on Team USA that I grew up watching.
Recently you were on the court, going up against those players and by all accounts you fared quite well. What did you take from that experience?
It was a great opportunity for me. I had a lot of fun. There’s a lot of stuff to learn just from all the players on that team. So it was good to be able to share the court and try and learn from them. Whenever you play well, it usually helps your confidence. So it definitely gave me a lot of confidence moving forward.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with Flagg at Fanatics Fest. (Photo: Fanatics)
What was the key to your decision to sign an NIL deal with Fanatics?
I’m a collector. So just getting into cards right away was so cool. It’s exciting to talk with the brand and about collaborations. And it’s not just cards but also memorabilia, like signing jerseys and balls. And I’m interested in them as a collector, too. Just having that connection now with Fanatics is really cool to me.
How does it feel having gone from being a collector to having your own card?
It’s definitely cool. I grew up getting cards of players and now it’s really a different feeling. It’s kind of surreal to know that I’m going to have my own card.
Could you see yourself collecting your own cards?
I saw that Tom Brady was on the floor buying some of his cards and cards of other players and current players. And I can definitely see myself doing that, too.
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(Photos: Fanatics)
